This is a P. Luna Foundation Blog Site. The main topics of this blog will concern Education, Awareness, and Prevention of tactics used by sexual predators online and within our communities. Our concern is Public Safety. We do welcome comments. Any comments responding to a particular blog that are derogatory in nature will be deleted.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Most Sex Offenders Know Their Victims Well

The kidnap and murder of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion riveted the
nation nearly three years ago. After being abducted from her Orange
County neighborhood, her nude body was found the next day in the
hills west of Lake Elsinore. She had been sexually assaulted and
then asphyxiated.
Five months before that, in February 2002, a similar story
played itself out in San Diego County when Danielle van Dam was
kidnapped from her quiet, upscale neighborhood and murdered.
In each case, a suspect was arrested. In each case, a jury found
him guilty. Two more child predators were removed from society.
Finally, parents could breathe a sigh of relief.
But should they?
While most parents spend a good amount of time cautioning their
children about strangers, experts agree that in reality, it's much
more likely a child will be victimized by someone they know. It
could be a youth pastor, a teacher, a trusted family friend or ——
even more likely —— a relative.

The reality

Two experts on sex offenders estimate that 80 percent to 90
percent or more of all child molestations are committed by people
who know the victim. And sex offenders who abduct children they
don't know make up only about 5 percent of those who have served
time in state prison, said Doris Mahlum, a district administrator
for the California Department of Corrections Parole Division.
The California attorney general's office estimates that there
are about 85,000 registered sex offenders living in the state.
According to the Megan's Law database, www.meganslaw.ca.gov, there
are 2,301 registered sex offenders living in Riverside County and
2,870 registered offenders in San Diego County.
For years, Mahlum worked one-on-one with hundreds of convicted
child molesters at Soledad State Prison. And that contact gave her
a keen perception of how their minds work, she said in a recent
interview.

The inner workings:

Most men who molest children are incapable of having a healthy
relationship with a woman, Mahlum said. She said that many inmates
have told her the innocence of children gives them a feeling of
power; with a child, they don't have to have to be successful,
intelligent or witty.
"They feel as if they are not good enough to make adult
connections, and with a child they feel they aren't as challenged,"
she said. "The child is perceived as being safe for them."
Once the line has been crossed, confusion and guilt set in for
the child, who often feels he or she has been a willing
participant, Mahlum said. Sex offenders know how to play on those
emotions or will attempt to convince the child, through fear or
intimidation, not to tell anyone what is happening.
"They are very manipulative," Mahlum said.
She added that more than 95 percent of child sexual molestations
are committed by men.
Child molesters typically fit into one of three general
categories: opportunists, who live in the same home as the child;
seducers; and abductors, Mahlum said.

The opportunist:

Of the men who have served time in California prisons for
molesting children, as many as 50 percent abused children living in
their own homes, Mahlum said.
Child molestations by family members are vastly under-reported,
she said. Often, a man will start living with a woman in order to
get to her children, she said.
Abuse such as this can often go on for years, and the abuser is
more likely to get away with it because it's less likely that
family members will choose to turn the offender in —— or even
believe that the abuse is happening, she said.
The National Center for Victims of Crime reports similar
numbers, with 46 percent of children who are raped having been
victims of family members. The center also notes that in the case
of incest, "victims may fear they will be disbelieved, blamed or
punished if they report their abuse."

The seducer:

The group that Mahlum refers to as "seducers" frequently seek
out jobs or volunteer work —- as youth pastors, coaches or baby
sitters —— that will give them easy access to children, she said.
In other cases, seducers are extended family members or friends of
the family. She added that seducers make up about 40 percent of all
offenders who have served time in prison.
Those types of offenders carefully study their prey before
striking.
"Molesters have told me they observe children and identify those
that are most susceptible; they look for children that appear
lonely, that are left alone or given a great deal of freedom
outside the home," she said.

Once they have chosen their victim, they begin "courting" them,
Mahlum said.
"They almost never begin by talking of sex; they start by taking
them places, to the movies, to swimming pools, to the ice cream
parlor," she said.
Later, they will begin touching them, "usually by brushing their
hand on their leg," she said. Eventually, the molester will try and
isolate the child to somewhere they can be alone.
Just such a scenario played itself out with one former Temecula
resident. In the mid-1990s, "Becky J." was 14 years old. In a 2002
interview with The Californian, the then 20-year-old woman, who
spoke on the condition her true name was not used, talked about how
she had been slowly "groomed" by her youth minister, Kerry Clyde
Martin, who ultimately ended up molesting her over a period of two
years. Unbeknownst to the community, Martin had previously been
accused of sexually molesting children at two other churches.

After befriending the teen, Martin began inviting her to his
office for private chats and sympathizing with her problems, she
said.
Becky said that as the months went by, Martin began hugging her.
Gradually the hugs became more prolonged and the kissing began, she
added, until finally he began raping her.
In 1999, after being convicted of 50 felonies, Martin was
sentenced to 205 years in state prison.

No safety in numbers

While most child molestations are committed after the molester
has gotten the child alone, as in Martin's case, parents shouldn't
be fooled into thinking their children are safe in a group, Mahlum
said.

One inmate she worked with was also a youth pastor. The man told
her he would take groups of children to a church activity room to
watch movies. Parents were lulled into feeling safe because their
children were not alone.
"He would turn off the lights and have one of the nice little
boys sit on his lap," she said. "Since I interviewed him, he was
released twice and reoffended twice —— always in the church."
The man is now serving a 15-year sentence in state prison.
"When he gets out, I know he will molest again," Mahlum
said.

Recidivism:

A 2004 report by the California Research Bureau reported an
average recidivism rate of 12.7 percent for child molesters over a
four- to five-year period.
Mahlum noted, however, that the averages are misleading. She
said that some offenders, such as those who are in their teens when
they begin molesting children, have a much greater likelihood of
reoffending than others.
Mental health treatment for offenders apparently is effective.
In the same 2004 report, an analysis of 79 treatment outcome
studies, involving 11,000 sex offenders, showed that treated
offenders had a recidivism rate of 13.2 percent, versus 17.2
percent for those who did not receive treatment. Meanwhile, those
offenders who received ongoing relapse prevention treatment had a
recidivism rate of 7.2 percent, according to the report.

The abductor:

It is the "abductors" who tend to grab the headlines and become
parents' worst nightmare —— people such as David Westerfield, who
was convicted in 2002 for killing Danielle van Dam; and Alejandro
Avila, who was convicted last week for killing Samantha
Runnion.
But this type of offender is responsible for very few of the
child molestations that occur.
The U.S. Department of Justice reports that child molestations
by strangers accounted for 3 percent of the cases of such crimes
against children under the age of 6, 5 percent in the 6-to-12 age
group, and in 10 percent of the cases the victims were 12 or
13.

A 1995 study by The National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children that examined child molesters who abduct their victims
found that many of the abductors had both low social competence and
little contact with children, lessening their "ability to seduce
children and (increasing their) reliance on more forceful
methods."
They are also more likely to restrain their victims and use
weapons to injure them and more likely than seducers to have a
history of delinquent, anti-social behavior as children.

A prediction tool:

One of the most efficient tools for predicting whether child
molesters will commit more such crimes is a test called Static 99,
said James Barker, a clinical psychologist with Sharper Future. The
company specializes in working with paroled sex offenders,
including child molesters, and has offices throughout the state,
including one in Palm Desert and another in Colton.

Sex offenders must answer 10 questions about their background.
Each question is assigned a point value, and the scores obtained
are a very good indicator of the likelihood that an offender will
repeat his or her criminal behavior, Barker said.

The test is currently used in California, but in most cases only
to help identify sexually violent predators. Barker thinks that
should change, however.
"What I am proposing is that (this) evaluation of a person's
risk be used as one criteria for determining level of treatment and
what level of supervision (all convicted) sex offenders need," he
said.

Lifetime need:

Mahlum said that for the most serious types of child molesters,
"I truly believe that we need to have a lifetime system of managing
these people."
Some of the management options could include ongoing therapy
sessions with mental health workers; lifetime parole; and special
teams to constantly check up on them.
Barker said that once sex offenders complete their parole, few
if any continue to receive treatment. And that is a major
concern:

The Department of Justice report states that ongoing treatment
and management of sex offenders "are indispensable parts of any
rehabilitation program, if public safety is to be insured."

Among its recommendations for such a treatment and management
program:

Mandatory treatment by therapists who are supervised and
trained in cognitive behavioral theory with sex offenders.

"Continuity of treatment is considered a critical factor in
managing sex offenders. Maintenance is forever, and relapse
prevention never ends," the report states, citing the fact that sex
offenders may reoffend even two decades after their release from
prison.

Twisted thinking:

Barker said that he and other therapists spend much of their
time attempting to correct their patients' twisted perceptions of
their crimes."We spend a lot of time identifying the things you tell yourself
internally, so that you can do something you know is wrong," he
said.
Referred to as cognitive distortions, he said that some of those
rationalizations include: "I am really not hurting this child. I am
really teaching her what she needs to know. Everybody does it."
Mahlum agreed.
"Those convicted often have convinced themselves that it is a
reciprocal relationship, that the child is enjoying it as much as
they are; when the molesters are involved, they don't see it as
bad."

Root causes

Barker said one of the most common myths about sex offenders is
that most of them were also victims of sexual molestation as
children. He added that it is impossible to make generalizations
about what causes people to molest children.
However, "if I were to put my hand on one thing, it would be
substance abuse," he said.
He emphasized that substance abuse doesn't cause people to
become a sex offender, "but if you have these thoughts already,
when you are intoxicated you stand a much higher chance of acting
out on those thoughts," Barker said.

A 1997 U.S. Department of Justice research report states that
some factors, including having been sexually molested as a child,
may increase the likelihood of a person becoming a child sexual
molester.
According to the report, many of those who molest children had
"inadequate social and interpersonal skills, under-assertiveness
and poor self-esteem."
Another factor may be a history of anti-social behavior in those
who later become molesters, the report states.

"Research shows that child molesters who committed their first
sexual offense in adolescence had histories of being disruptive in
school, verbally or physically assaulting their peers or teachers,"
the report states. "A history of impulsive antisocial behavior is a
well-documented risk factor associated with some child
molesters."

Many crimes unreported:

Child molestations often go unreported, according to a 1997
research report by the U.S. Department of Justice.
"Offenders report vastly more victim-involved incidents than
those for which they were convicted," the report states.

The same report states that a national survey of 2,000 children
showed that 3.2 percent of girls and 0.6 percent of boys between
the ages of 10 and 16 said they had suffered physical sexual abuse
at some point in their lives.
A 1994 survey of 453 pedophiles by the National Institute of
Health showed that, collectively, those criminals had molested more
than 67,000 children, an average of 148 children per pedophile.

What can parents do?

The best thing that parents can do to protect their children is
to educate themselves about child molesters and teach their
children what to do to avoid becoming victims.

To avoid being abducted —— besides not talking to strangers ——
children must learn:

Never, ever get into a car with a stranger, no matter what they
say to you or offer you. After Samantha Runnion was abducted, raped
and murdered, a playmate told police that her abductor had enticed
Samantha closer to his car by asking her for help in finding a lost
puppy.

If someone attempts to force you to go someplace, "start
yelling 'help, help' as loud as you can, kicking and pushing them
away."

When it comes to those who are in positions of trust, Mahlum
said that parents should beware of anyone who is frequently
spending time alone with their child.
"That should be a red flag," she said.
If that is going on, she advised parents to begin questioning
their child.
"Say 'Tell me how your day went'; if they went to the movies
say, 'Tell me what happened there and what about after the
movies?'" Mahlum said. "What you have to look for is evasive
answers and behavior. If they are uncomfortable, look a little
deeper into the relationship."
Although there is no way for parents to make sure their children
are 100 percent safe, Mahlum has this advice: "Observe your child,
listen to your child, and most importantly love your child —— that
will make them less apt to become a victim."

Static 99 test

Experts consider the Static 99 test to be one of the most
effective tools for determining the likelihood of child molesters
re-offending, according to James Barker, a Palm Desert based
clinical psychologist specialized in treating sex offenders. Based
on their answers, sex offenders are assigned a score, which he said
can be used to help determine their management and treatment.
They are asked about the following:

Their age. "People under the age of 25 are a higher risk,"
Barker said.

Whether they have lived with an intimate adult partner for at
least two years. "A person who is not able to sustain an intimate
relationship is higher risk," he said.

Convictions for assault and battery, as well sexual
molestation, even if the assault happened in a separate incident
before the sex crime.

Convictions for non-sexual violence. "Violent people are higher
risk," he said.

Convictions of all types. "(Those) indicate they don't go along
with society's norms and are not afraid to break the law."

Convictions for noncontact sexual offenses such as public
exposure, the possession of child pornography, obscene phone calls,
etc.

Convictions for other types of sex offense.

Sex offenses against non-family victims. "Incest has a much
lower risk of occurring again, because the victim pool is much
smaller," Barker said.

Convictions for sex crimes against strangers.

Convictions for sex crimes against male victims. "These men
have a higher recidivism rate," he said.

The crucial pieces of information I got from the article- approx 95% of child molesters know their'

victim/s.

The remaining 5% are the, "abductors," who do not know the children they kidnap. They have the highest likelihood of abducting, sexually assaulting, and murdering a child (typically by asphyxiation) within a short time after the abduction. Doc